


Empty Cage

by Marvel_makes_me_cry (Zamalda), Zamalda



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, Will add more tags as it goes on, and other animals, injuries, its the apocalypse duh, theres a dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2020-01-06 10:36:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18386714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zamalda/pseuds/Marvel_makes_me_cry, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zamalda/pseuds/Zamalda
Summary: Glenn was hurt, all Daryl and Rick could do was get to somewhere they could lay low and treat his injury. They ducked into a pet store that looked like it hadn’t even been touched, after all, who makes pet supplies a priority in the apocalypse? An auburn-haired stranger with an affinity for helping injured animals while the world has gone to shit may be Glenn’s best bet.Takes place after the end of season 3, during the time jump between seasons 3 and 4.





	1. Prologue

When this all began, it started as a rumor, that something worse than the flu was going around. Doctors told everyone to wash their hands, and wear masks in public. Of course, that didn’t work. The first things to close were the schools. Too many kids not going to school either because they had caught the illness or their parents were too scared to let them leave the house. 

The next thing that closed were government buildings. That was because they were getting swamped, citizens demanding answers, banging on the doors. 

For most people, the world went tits up in a day. In 24 hours the illness turned from a rumor into a harsh reality of the dead walking. People fled the cities, either to escape the dense populations or to flee to the army camps that were being set up all across the nation. 

Few people made it out of the cities. The army sent in orders for every major city to be bombed in the streets. The world had turned to chaos. 

Some managed to escape both the bombings and the dead for long enough to form groups. These groups searched for food and shelter together. They shared what they could, and all hid things in secret. Mothers hoarded extra food for their children, doctors hoarded extra medicines for themselves, and runners kept the most useful supplies a secret. These groups are the ones that fell first. 

The groups that stood past the first month were those that had a clear leader, someone they could trust, or someone who provided. Eventually they would learn to trust each other. 

Then, there were the very seldom few who survived on their own. No group, no help, just them against the new world. 

Sometimes groups would take these people in, let them become one of them, but sometimes, groups would slaughter those people, saying that if they had survived so long on their own, they must be dangerous. 

This new hellish world ripped people’s humanity away and replaced it with the single instinct to survive.

_______________

The best kind of cages are those that are left empty.  
_______________

The two men left the remaining group behind, night had fallen, and they had other plans to attend to. 

As soon as the door to the house was open, they jumped each other. Their mouths pressed together in a desperation from having been separated for too long, with each thinking the other was dead.

They moved up the stairs, losing items of clothing as they climbed. When the door to the bedroom closed, they took a moment to appreciate each other's bodies. 

Both chests and backs were littered in scars, some older than others, and some medical, but all with a story behind them. 

The auburn-haired man made the first move, he pressed forwards until the other man fell backwards onto the bed. Then he straddle him, looming over him like a wolf with injured prey. He leaned down, and made their lips collide again, this time much slower and softer. 

“God, I missed you.” 

“Missed you, too. Now shut up, I think your mouth could be doing something more useful.”

“Oh, Mr. Dixon, you have such a way with words.”

“Shut up before I make you.”

“Oh, I’d like to see what you have in mind for th-mhn!”

They collided for another kiss. 

Hours later, when they were laid next to each other in the bed, smaller curled into the larger’s side, they spoke softly to each other. 

“Saw a dog on the road, thought it was Henry, thing didn’t know a lick of French though.”

“Did you speak French to a wild dog? Oh, please tell me you did! What did you say to it?”

“I think you are laughin’ a little much for what I thought was something sweet.”

“No! No! It is sweet, it's just also fucking hilarious!”

“You keep laughin’ at me I’m gunna take back everything I gave ya.”

“You wouldn’t! Say you love me.”

“Nah, lyin’ ‘s a sin, didn’t you ever read the Bible?”

“Tried to, Jesus and I didn’t really seem to get along once I realized I liked little Timmy and not Sandy.” 

“You are hopeless.”

“Hopelessly in love with you.”

...

“This is when you say something like: ‘I’m hopelessly in love with you too!”

“Ain’t nothin’ hopeless about me lovin’ you.”

“Daryl Dixon you fucking sap.”


	2. Kindness of a Stranger

Two pairs of feet heavily slapped the pavement as the third pair stumbled between them. The three men tried to make their way to the nearest building without drawing the attention of the few walkers stumbling in the street. 

The nearest building was rather large. It looked as if it used to be some kind of pet store. The two glass doors that served as the main entrance were covered in dust and grime, but they weren’t broken, not even a crack. 

“In here Daryl,” Rick directed. Daryl passed the weight of Glenn to Rick as he moved to get his crossbow from his back. He went into the store first, all the lights off making it almost impossible to see as the glass doors were the only windows in the building. 

Daryl noticed most of the shelves were still stocked, not a big surprise as pet supplies weren’t exactly a top priority in the apocalypse. There was a noise from a few ailes in front of him and he raised his crossbow, a bolt loaded into it already, ready to shoot. 

A small animal scurried across the floor and Daryl contemplated shooting it, but a crash from the other end of the store took his attention. The crash was followed by barking. There was a fucking dog in here, probably rabid and gorging itself on the abundance of dog food left around. 

The barking stopped abruptly. Daryl made his way slowly to where the barking had come from, only to find nothing, not even evidence of whatever had caused the crash. 

Daryl whistled, hoping to draw the dog out. Nothing. Daryl continued his search through the store, and found a hole in one of the back walls, light pouring in. So that’s where the dog had run off to. 

Daryl made quick work of the rest of the store, noting the three other rooms; a room with what looked like baths, a back area piled high with storage, and a room full of medical supplies. All small and clear. 

Daryl made his way back to the entrance and pulled Glenn in with the help of Rick. Glenn seemed to finally pass out. Daryl led them to where he had passed a stack of dog beds, somewhere comfortable to set Glenn down. He and Rick went to the room with the medical supplies and started to grab what they thought they would need when there was barking and growling. 

“Damn dog!” Daryl huffed. 

He rushed back to Glenn to finally take the mutt down when he came face to face with a man kneeling a bit away from Glenn. A large black dog by his side. The dog barked as Daryl approached, and the man snapped his eyes away from Glenn to look at Daryl. The dog looked like it wanted to rip Daryl’s arm off, but the man put his hand on the dog’s head and the dog immediately calmed down and sat next to its owner. 

“Step away from him,” Daryl ordered, crossbow raised. 

“I can help,” the man said. 

“You can help by backin’ the fuck up!” Daryl growled. The dog growled in return. The dog snapped around, and the man turned and saw Rick, who tried sneaking up from behind. 

“He’s going to bleed out if you don’t let me help him!” The man protested. 

“How do we know we can trust ya?” Daryl asked. 

“For starters, I haven’t let my dog eat you,” the man snarked back. “I was gunna let you take what you needed without even showing myself, but you’ve got a man down, and I can help.”

Daryl made eye contact with Rick, who nodded. Daryl put his bow to his side. 

“Pull anything, I put an arrow through yer skull,” Daryl warned the man. 

The man turned to Rick, who was holding a handful of medical supplies. 

“Take him to the room you got those supplies from, there's a table in the back, lay him on that,” the man ordered. He turned to Daryl. “Don’t shoot any of the animals.” 

Daryl was about to ask what animals when the man moved to a large cage that was covered in bags of dog food. Daryl momentarily wondered how the hell he had missed it.

The door to the cage was opened and a small figure ran up the man’s arm, and onto his head. Then, what could only be a fawn stepped out. Lastly, a cat trotted out, saw the strangers and puffed up and hissed. 

“Oh shut up,” the man said, though there was no venom in his voice. He bent down and grabbed the cat and placed it on a shelf. The cat crawled to the back and glared at the newcomers. Daryl turned to help Rick with Glenn.

They carried the asian into the room they had found the supplies and there was indeed a table at the back. The man walked in, followed by the dog. He flicked the switch at the door and a light came on. 

“This place has power?” Rick asked, astonished. 

“Only this room,” the man answered. And Daryl finally got a good look at him. From his silhouette Daryl had known he was relatively tall, probably as tall as him and Rick, and he didn't seem to be very built, but in the light, Daryl could tell the man had muscle on him, probably would have as much as him if he wasn’t as thin as he was. He was built where he could be, but the obvious lack of food had stolen some muscle definition from him. He also had no facial hair, but he did have quite the mop of auburn hair. His hair was disheveled and sticking up in odd places. “The store was also a clinic, so there was a generator hooked up to this room. Henry, sac.” 

Daryl watched as the dog trotted to the other side of the room, and came back with a bag clenched between its teeth. 

“Henry, avic moi,” the man called. The dog, Henry?, dropped the bag and sat dutifully next to the man. He bent down and grabbed the bag, setting it on the table next to Glenn. “So, are you two going to give me your names?”

“Rick, and this is Daryl, our man on the table is Glenn,” Rick answered. “Your turn.”

“Aaron, and this is Henry, and this is Chip.”

Daryl had no idea who ‘Chip’ was supposed to be until he heard a tiny chattering noise coming from the man’s head. The fucker had a squirrel in his hair. And Daryl hadn’t even noticed. 

“Chip likes it up there, and it’s not like I mind that much,” Aaron offered as an explanation. “I’m going to sterilize the cut and then I’m going to stitch it up. He’s probably going to wake up, and considering the size of the cut, and how far down his side it goes, moving much is going to make it worse. If you could hold him down so that he doesn’t move that would be awesome.”

Rick moved to do as Aaron said. Daryl was a little more hesitant. 

“Or he can wake up and as I stitch him up he can make it worse and probably bleed out,” Aaron commented, noticing how Daryl had yet to move. 

Daryl moved to help hold Glenn down. 

Aaron had some cotton balls in a jar next to him, along with a small curved needle and some thread. 

“These cotton balls are soaked in alcohol, and if I use these instead of just pouring the alcohol onto the cut we save a hell of a lot of supplies,” Aaron explained. Then he started working and said nothing more. He had been correct in assuming Glenn would wake up, though it wasn’t until Aaron started with the second set of stitches. When Glenn started thrashing it must have scared Chip, because Aaron flinched and suddenly the squirrel was hopping down onto Henry. Aaron finished his work as fast as he could, and when the stitches were done, he put a bandage over them. 

“You can stay here until he’s all healed, if you want,” Aaron said unsurly.

“We have others, it won’t go unnoticed if we don’t come back,” RIck commented. Aaron couldn’t help but feel that was a subtle threat. 

“Then bring them here, or move him and pop his stitches, up to you,” Aaron muttered as he turned the light off in the room and left, Henry trotting next to him out of the room.

Daryl followed the man at a distance, noticing how he walked through the store silently. Aaron walked up to the front doors and locked them, causing Daryl to stiffen. 

“Locking them to keep lurkers out, not keep you in, Jesus fuck you are jumpy,” Aaron called back to Daryl. Daryl didn’t even know Aaron had turned to see him tense. “Don’t shoot anything in here, got it, Dare?”

“It’s Daryl,” he called back, not liking the nickname, especially not from this stranger. 

“And it’s the apocalypse, no time to waste on extra syllables,” was the reply that came from somewhere else in the store Daryl couldn’t pinpoint. 

Daryl went back to Glenn’s side. He looked to Rick. 

“What should we do?” Glenn asked after a moment. He was pale and sweating. 

“Guy’s right, we can’t move you, at least not right now,” Rick muttered. “One of us needs to go back to the prison, bring the supplies we found back there, come back with another truck to grab what more we can.”

“I don’t like this guy,” Daryl commented. “Don’t like the idea of us leaving you with him.”

“I’ll stay,” Rick nodded, looking back and forth from Daryl and Glenn. “Keep an eye on both of them.” 

“I’ll bring Maggie back with me,” Daryl promised Glenn. “If night weren’t fallin’, I’d go back now. ‘ll leave in the mornin’.” 

Rick nodded. 

There was barking. 

“Silencieux, Henry!” Came Aaron’s voice. There was a small thud that sounded like the door opening and closing. 

Rick and Daryl shared a look before running to see what was going on. They ran to the front doors and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. 

Aaron was in the middle of the street, fighting off a few walkers, Henry helping, while trying to wrangle in a fucking horse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are liking it so far!
> 
> All the commands Henry knows are in french. 
> 
> In order they are:   
> Sac=bag  
> Avic moi=with me  
> Silencieux=silence


	3. One Rule

Daryl watched on as Aaron struggled with the horse. The animal was covered in mud, and had gashes running all down it’s side. They almost looked like they were from barbed wire, but they were much too deep. The horse was extremely thin. Daryl had never known much about horses, but he could tell you it was starving based on how prominent it’s ribs were. 

More walkers seemed to surround Aaron, attracted by the frightened whinnying of the horse. Rick was hesitant to raise his gun, knowing the gun shots would only draw more walkers to them. 

Daryl huffed and took another look at the horse. The thing was clearly bleeding too much to be helped, all it was doing now was making noise and almost getting a herd to stumble across them. 

Daryl pulled his crossbow from his back, loaded a bolt, and took aim. It was just a dumb fucking horse anyways. 

There was a sickening thud from the arrow as it lodged itself into the skull of the animal. The horse gave a choked off whine before it fell to the ground. The walkers that had seemed interested in Aaron soon turned their attention to the horse, as they descended upon it to eat what little meat was left on it. 

“The FUCK was that?” Aaron turned to Daryl, who still had his crossbow raised. “I gave you on simple instruction and that was to not fucking shoot any fucking animals!” 

Aaron didn’t seem to care that he was yelling and there were walkers right next to him. The rage in his voice went all the way to his eyes. 

“The thing was bleeding out,” Daryl huffed. 

“So was your damn friend but I still patched him up, didn’t I?” Aaron shouted. “I could have at least fucking tried!” 

“All you would have done was waste supplies on it,” Daryl shot back. He turned to go back into the store. 

“Descendre!” Aaron ordered. He pointed at Daryl and Henry was off like a bolt. 

Daryl turned just in time to have the dog lunge on him. He tripped backwards, crossbow flying across the floor, and the dog was pinning him to the ground. 

“Avec moi,” Aaron ordered again, and suddenly he was straddling Daryl, dog having jumped away, but still growling. 

That's when Daryl heard the cocking of a gun. 

“I suggest you get off my man,” Rick said, slow and demanding. Daryl could see the gun pointed to the back of Aaron’s head. 

“I gave him one fucking order, not shoot anything,” was all Aaron said. 

“I’m sure he only shot the horse to put it out of its misery, ain’t that right, Daryl?” Rick asked. 

“Sure,” Daryl agreed, not meaning it. 

“You bastard,” Aaron growled, rage flashing in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to kill Daryl, but he made no attempt to move. “I want you gone, all three of you. In the morning.”

“Glenn’s sti-“ Rick started. 

“Fuck the stitches, let him bleed out, same fate as the horse,” Aaron grunted as he finally stood. He turned to face Rick, not seeming to care there was a gun in his face. “I know the exact stock of everything in here, take any of it, I will hunt you down and bury an arrow in your man’s head, just like he did with the horse.”

Aaron stalked off, giving a sharp whistle, causing Henry to follow. 

“Why’d you have to shoot the damn horse?” Rick asked as he helped haul Daryl to his feet. 

“Looked dead already,” Daryl grumbled. 

“So do most of the people we just took in,” Rick muttered in response. “That’s why we need supplies.”

“It’s just a damn horse.”

“And that ‘damn horse’ seemed pretty important to our host,” Rick prompted. “Maybe you should apologize.”

“Ain’t gunna say sorry for somethin’ that don’t even matter,” Daryl grunted. 

“It seems to matter to him,” Rick patted Daryl’s shoulder. “Glenn should stay here as long as his wound still needs stitches.”

Daryl huffed. Rick was right, but fuck if he’d ever tell him that. Daryl cast a sideways glance at his friend, then picked his crossbow up from the floor, and slung it on his back. He then trudged off to where Aaron had disappeared to. 

He found Aaron sitting on the pile of dog beds. He had the fucking cat on his lap, and based on the amount his hair was moving, Chip was back to his nest. Henry looked his way, but didn’t bark or growl. 

Aaron glanced up at the archer. “If you are here to apologize, save it. You don’t give a shit about killing the horse.”

“You’re right, I don’t,” Daryl replied. “But you patched up Glenn, then asked me not to shoot anything.”

There was a pause. 

“Is this your idea of an apology? So far you haven’t done anything but state the obvious, Dare.”

“Daryl,” he grunted.

“Already been over this, no time for extra syllables,” Aaron chuckled. He seemed over the whole thing already. 

“Fine, I’m not sorry about killin’ the damn horse, but I'm sorry for shootin’ somethin’ when you asked me not to.”

“Ya know, I get the feeling you don’t do this often. The whole talking thing,” Daryl didn’t have to see Aaron’s face to know he was smirking. Smug bastard. 

Daryl stood a moment longer before turning to leave. 

“You don’t have to leave.” 

Daryl got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about leaving in the morning. 

“Gotta check on Glenn,” Daryl responded without turning around. 

“Make sure he doesn’t try to sit up!” Aaron called after him. 

Daryl made his way back to the room Glenn was in. Rick was already there, sitting in a chair he pulled from somewhere next to the Korean. 

“Dude, don’t shoot other people’s horses,” Glenn moaned to Daryl when he walked in.

“Don’t have to leave anymore,” Daryl huffed to the pair. He took his crossbow off his back and sat against a wall, facing Rick and Glenn.

“Did you guys kiss and make up?” Glenn teased. 

Daryl bristled at the phrase. “Just apologized.” 

“Doesn’t sound like you,” Glenn chuckled. 

“For a man who can’t move, yer makin’ a lot of jokes,” Daryl growled. Mostly kidding. 

“Geez, just joking around Daryl,” Glenn turned to Rick. “If he tries to kill me in my sleep, please stop him.”

Rick looked down at the ground and laughed. 

“Good to see you feeling better,” came a voice from the door. 

Daryl almost jumped, not having noticed him approach, or open the door. 

“Yeah, guess I should say thank you,” Glenn told the man. 

Aaron passed by Daryl to get to the cabinet next to him. “Henry, sac.”

The dog came in with the bag in his mouth. 

“You’re dog knows commands?” Glenn’s eyes widened. “That's so cool!”

“Henry was training to be a service dog,” Aaron explained. “Teaching him new commands used up his energy and gave me something to do.”

“Have you had him since this whole thing started?” Glenn asked. 

“Yeah, he’s been with me from the beginning,” Aaron turned to find the lightswitch. “Chip here, him I found a few months back, broken leg. He was just a baby so he probably fell out of a tree. I got him all fixed up, tried to release him, but as you can see,” he gestured to his head where the squirrel was sitting, “he didn’t want to leave.”

Aaron grabbed a box, stuffed it in the bag, then kept looking for something else. 

“So you just heal injured animals and let them go back?” Glenn asked, almost accusingly. 

“Heal the ones I can at least, then if they can go back, yeah, I put them back,” Aaron answered. He found a roll of gauze and shoved it in the bag. “Right now I’m trying to heal a fawn. She had an arrow in her leg, took it out, and trying to heal her up before I let her go.”

Aaron stood and closed the cabinet, a syringe in his hand.

“How do you know all this stuff?” Glenn asked. 

Aaron just pointed to the stack of books on the ground. “Not much else to do.” 

Aaron grabbed his bag from Henry. He slung it on his back and moved to leave the room, but he caught himself on the doorframe. “This door locks from the inside, and I’m sleeping out on those beds. Don’t leave the light on all night.” Then he left. 

“Well, he’s trusting,” Glenn scoffed. “Doesn’t know us, leaves us with all of his medical supplies, and sleeps out in the open.”

“That dog alerts him of every move anyone else makes,” Rick countered. “I don’t think he’s as vulnerable as you think.”

Daryl closed his eyes and leaned his head back, letting Glenn and Rick’s conversation fade into the background. He didn’t like that this new guy was so trusting. He didn’t like that he was so quick to share his supplies. He would get himself killed if he wasn’t careful. Other groups, like the Governor’s, would have slaughtered him and taken everything he had. 

Daryl also didn’t like that Aaron was so compassionate to animals. He had lost his cool when a horse that was almost dead already was killed. He was wasting his supplies on animals, when others would see them as easy meals. Hell, if Aaron snapped again, Daryl would take that fawn with him for the group. 

Daryl stopped thinking, knowing he needed to get some rest for his run tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Descendre - take down
> 
> Also im sorry if these translations are wrong! Im using google translate, as I do not know french. Thanks for reading!!!


	4. The Murder Dog Likes Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron looked sadly at what was left of the corpse of the horse. The arrow stuck out prominently from the skull. He approached it, and pulled the arrow out. 
> 
> “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you,” Aaron muttered to the horse. “The arrow was a better way for you to go than suffering.” 
> 
> Aaron whistles, pulling Henry to his side, and walked back into the store. He locked the doors, still looking at the horse. When he turned around, he almost smacked straight into Daryl

Aaron groaned as a whine from Henry woke him. He sat up, since once he was awake, there was little hope of him going back to sleep. Henry put his paw on Aaron’s leg. 

“Waking me up for food,” Aaron chuckled as he stretched. “I should have taught you better manners.”

Aaron stood, stretching one last time, and walked over to the bag of dog food Henry was currently on. He took the cup and filled it to the top, and poured it in the dish that was next to his feet. He took one look at the bucket that held the water all the animals drank from and groaned. 

“All of you have drinking problems.”

Aaron grabbed the bucket and took it to the storage room, where there were barrels of water. When one emptied, he would set buckets out on the roof to catch any rainfall, and filled them back up. With winter approaching, there was more precipitation, which was good for him and the animals. 

With the newly filled bucket, Aaron took it back out and set it on the floor. 

“Hey, guys,” Aaron yawned as he opened the cage that held the fawn and Fi. The cat walked out slowly, and rubbed against Aaron’s leg. “Wanna be picked up? Such a slut for attention.” 

Aaron bent down and grabbed the cat, holding her to his chest. Henry whined. 

“You don’t even have to sleep in the cage, calm down,” Aaron smiled. The cat purred, and Aaron liked to think it was Fi smuggly smiling at Henry.

Aaron did his rounds, feeding all the animals, checking to make sure his bag had everything he’d need if something happened, and going over some of his commands with Henry. 

“Henry, wanna go outside?” Aaron asked the black dog. The dog didna small dance and spun in a circle. “That bad, bud?”

Aaron went to the front doors, took a quick look to see the lurkers had dispersed, and opened them. Henry ran off to a close patch of grass and did his business. Aaron guessed it was still early morning, the tendrils of a sunrise still on the horizon.

Aaron looked sadly at what was left of the corpse of the horse. The arrow stuck out prominently from the skull. He approached it, and pulled the arrow out. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you,” Aaron muttered to the horse. “The arrow was a better way for you to go than suffering.” 

Aaron whistles, pulling Henry to his side, and walked back into the store. He locked the doors, still looking at the horse. When he turned around, he almost smacked straight into Daryl. 

“Jesus!” Aaron yelped in surprise. “Make some noise when you walk, okay?” 

“Goin’ to tell our group where we are, bringin’ one of them back,” Daryl informed him. 

“Yeah, okay,” Aaron agreed, wondering if the statement was more of a question. “Will you be back today?” 

“Early evenin’ at the latest,” Daryl confirmed. 

“Well, be safe,” Daryl went to walk by him. “Wait! This is yours!”

Aaron gave the arrow back to the archer, who stared at it for a moment before taking it. 

Aaron watched as Daryl walked away from the store. He turned before he was out of sight. 

Henry trotted up to the medical door and sat. 

“You bossing me around now?” Aaron smirked at the dog. He pushed open the door and the dog slipped inside before Aaron. 

“Morning,” Rick nodded to him, can of food in one hand. 

“Wow, I’m a bad host, I didn’t offer you guys any food,” Aaron said, more to himself. 

“I’m not going to bash your hosting abilities, considering I’m not bleeding out on the street,” Glenn added from the table. “Here I am, in an apocalyptic menagerie, stuck in a vertical position for who knows how long.”

“In a few days, when I think your stitches won’t pop when you move, I’ll let you meet all the animals if you want,” Aaron promised. “And I’ll keep them away from Rick, too. That way you can be the first to get the tour.”

Glenn chuckled. 

“We can start with Henry, though,” Aaron smiled as he ruffled the dog’s head. “After you take some pain meds.” Aaron reached into his bag and pulled out an orange bottle. He dumped two pills into his hand and offered them to Glenn. Glenn swallowed them with no problem.

“What breed is he?” Glenn asked.

“He's a mix between Golden Retriever and German Shepherd, might be something else like Border Collie or Australian Shepherd in him, but not positive on those.”

“Can I pet him?” Glenn asked. “I know you’ve trained him to pretty much eat anything that looks like a threat.”

“Just go slow, let him smell your hand first,” Aaron instructed. 

Glenn lowered his hand from the table. Henry craned his neck to sniff at it, and when he deemed it fine, gave it a small lick.

“Look at that, Rick, the murder dog likes me.”

“I’m very glad for you,” Rick chuckled from his seat. 

“How many animals do you have here?” Glenn asked. 

“Right now, five, well, four that I would consider mine,” Aaron had to think for a moment. “There’s a raccoon in here, I have never done anything with it, but it just stays here. He normally hides, and since it’s always dark out there, he’s hard to spot. But I have Henry, a cat, Chip, and then the fawn.”

“A cat and dog that get along? I’d say the world was endin’ but that already happened,” Rick commented. 

“Fi and Henry like each other, but if you think Henry takes unkindly to strangers, wait until you meet Fi.”

“Never was a cat person,” Glenn muttered. 

“She grows on you,” Aaron promised. 

They spent a long time talking about animals, a topic that helped Aaron open up, since he was so enamored with animals. The topic switched to other things, like Aaron asked how many lurkers (walkers, he learned is what this group called them) they had each killed. Aaron hadn’t been sure how many he had killed, but was relieved when Rick and Glenn both struggled with coming up with a number. 

Aaron learned that they were camping inside a prison. He learned they recently opened the doors of the prison to outsiders looking for refuge. 

“You can join us, if you want,” Glenn offered. Aaron didn’t miss the way Rick’s eyes snapped to Glenn’s when he offered. 

“Who needs an aspiring veterinarian in the apocalypse?” Aaron responded, breaking the tension that had suddenly been created. 

“Well, we have an actual veterinarian with us,” Glenn said. “You could be his apprentice.”

“Glenn, how’s your side feel?” Aaron asked with a smile. 

“Great, never better, wouldn’t even know I was about to be walker food,” Glenn answered. 

“I think I gave you too many pills,” Aaron apologized. “Why don’t you sleep them off, Rick and I can go do something else while you just take a nice nap.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Glenn nodded. 

Aaron and Rick left the room. 

“Sorry,” Aaron immediately said. “I didn’t think the pills would be so strong. Don’t worry I kinda figured everything he said he didn’t mean.”

Rick opened his mouth to answer, but Henry cut him off with a bark. 

There were three lurkers pressed up against the glass doors. Aaron sighed before taking his knife out of its holster on his belt. 

“Excuse me for a moment,” Aaron turned to Rick before going to the doors. He swiftly opened one of the doors. The action caused two of the walkers to stumble backwards, and Aaron quickly stabbed one in the head. He kept the door open, as a type of funnel, and stabbed the other two as the limbered into the store. 

Aaron kicked the corpses out the door, closing and locking the door.

Henry sniffed at the blood from the lurkers and Aaron shouted at him to get away. 

“Fucking dumbass, don’t eat the lurkers’ juice or blood or whatever the hell they have in there,” Aaron grumbled. He grabbed a rag off the shelf nearest the door and mopped the mess up. Aaron threw the rag back onto the shelf before turning back to Rick. “Sorry about that, where were we?”

“What Glenn said,” Rick answered. 

“Oh, yeah,” Aaron deflated. “It’s fine, you know, I’ve been here for a long time and I’m doing fine, so, just, don’t worry about it.”

“Actually, I was-“ Rick started, cut off by the sound of an engine. 

“Is it Daryl?” Aaron asked. 

“I don’t think he’d be back so soon,” Rick responded, hand going to his gun. 

“I have to go put everyone up, go lock the door to the room Glenn is in, I’ll be okay,” Aaron ordered. Henry ran beside his owner, not having to be told to follow. 

Aaron was glad the fawn was already in the cage, Chip was refusing to leave his nest atop Aaron’s head, and as the rumbling of the engine came closer, Aaron gave up on Chip, and turned to grab Fi from her shelf where she always made her home, except she wasn’t there. 

Aaron frantically looked around. There was no flash of eyes, low growl, or hissing anywhere near. Henry turned his head to the door, ears alert and tail unmoving. Someone was here. 

“Henry, Silencieux,” Aaron ordered the dog quietly. Aaron pulled his knife from his belt. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need it. 

He waited, hunched in the corner of the store, listening for any sound indicating the strangers were going to enter. There was a loud banging coming from the front door. Aaron put his hand on Henry’s head to keep him from making noise. Aaron was strangely more scared than yesterday when Daryl and Rick had carried Glenn in. Maybe it was because now he was worried about more than just his own safety. 

The door opened. The creak seemed to fill the store, warning everyone in the area new people were entering. 

“You said in here?” It was a woman’s voice. “I don’t hear anything. Whoever took out the dead may have left.”

“Good for us, we need whatever supplies this shit hole has in it,” a man’s voice. 

Aaron held onto Henry, both to comfort himself and to keep the dog from running off. These were definitely strangers. His hold on his knife tightened. 

The sound of footsteps echoed through the store, impossible to pinpoint where they were coming from. 

Aaron kept watch from the front, where he could be seen. He occasionally looked to the side, making sure someone wouldn’t sneak up on him, but focused on where he was visible from. 

“Nothin’ here but dog food,” came the male voice. 

“Check the rooms at the back, could be anything back there,” the female voice responded. Aaron’s heart lurched. They couldn’t find Glenn, if they both came at Rick, he would most likely be helpless. 

Aaron held his hand in a fist, Henry’s signal for stay. 

Aaron knew based on where the voices came from that the male was close to him. He could most likely sneak to the other end of the store and pull the two strangers over that way, but he didn’t know what he was going to do. 

He tiptoed his way to the other end of the store, careful to not make any noise and not to be seen. 

Aaron tapped the hilt of his knife to the shelves. 

“The fuck is that?” The female voice. 

“Go check it out, I’ll search the rooms,” the male voice said. 

Aaron panicked for a moment. They weren’t supposed to split up! But at least Rick would only have one to deal with. 

That still left Aaron with the woman. Before he could think of what to do, a gun was cocking and a figure appeared in front of him. She spoke low. 

“You dead?” She asked. 

“No,” Aaron answered. Not moving his hand with the knife from its position where it was ready to strike. 

“This your camp?” 

Aaron nodded.

“Any more people?” She asked. Aaron didn’t like that question. 

“Just me,” Aaron lied. 

“Good,” the woman said, but before either of them could react, a gunshot rang out through the store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been awhile! Im gunna slow down to once a week, maybe more if i feel like i have enough, but that you to everyone who has read it!! Leave a comment if you like it!! I love feedback!


	5. Have You Ever Killed Anyone Before?

The woman froze for a moment after the gunshot. Aaron used that time to tackle her and wrestle the gun away from her. The gun slid across the floor, and the woman yelled out for her companion. Aaron had to hope that he had a bullet lodged in him and was unable to help. She elbowed Aaron in the ribs, and then a growl sounded from behind her. 

Even slightly dazed, Aaron knew it was Henry. The dog had disobeyed his order to stay, and, god, Aaron loved him for it. 

The woman turned, and Henry lunged. He bit her arm, hard enough Aaron could see blood. She flailed, trying to get Henry off of her. 

Aaron was frozen to his spot until the woman pulled a knife from her belt, and raised her arm that wasn’t trapped in Henry’s jaws, like she was going to strike. 

Aaron lunged, his own knife in hand, and plunged it into the woman’s skull. The life drained from her and she fell over. Only then did Henry let go of her arm. 

Henry’s mouth was red with blood, strings and drops of blood dripping from his muzzle, and Aaron felt sick. Looking back at the woman, blood was pooling under her head on the floor, Aaron’s knife was still lodged into her head. 

Aaron grabbed the knife and pulled it out. It made a sickening squelch, and blood followed behind the knife. 

Aaron leaned over and emptied what little had been in his stomach onto the floor. He felt dizzy, like he would pass out if he wasn’t careful. He also noticed Chip was no longer on his head, and he looked around for him momentarily. 

But he didn’t have time to waste. He had to check on Rick and Glenn. There hadn’t been any noise that Aaron had noticed after the initial gunshot. 

While making his way back to Rick, he didn’t feel as ill, having a new goal and not thinking about what he had just done. When turning another corner, he almost ran into Rick. 

“You hurt?” Rick asked.

“No.”

“Did you take care of the woman?” He asked next, a strange look in his eye. 

“Y-Yeah.”

Aaron let Rick lead him back to Glenn, passing a body that had been virtually mutilated in Aaron’s eyes. There was one gunshot wound, but the man looked like a crazed person had gone after him. 

Aaron glanced uneasily at Rick. He was having a few doubts about the man’s sanity. Then again, Aaron had pretty much done the same to the woman. He couldn’t get the image of her lifeless head with his knife lodged into it out of his mind. 

“What the hell just happened?” Glenn demanded. 

“Two people broke in,” Rick explained. “We handled them.” 

Aaron couldn’t help but think they hadn’t handled anything. They could have let those people go. They didn’t have to kill them. There had been no need for that. They could have let the people take whatever they wanted, they could have hidden, they could have done anything else for a different outcome. 

Aaron excused himself from the room, telling the other two that he was going to see what they had on their truck. He just needed to get out of there. 

The truck was actually pretty loaded for how desperate the people had seemed. There was a duffle bag full of clothes, a cooler full of canned food, and a few weapons up in the cab. In the bed of the truck, there was a lot more that Aaron was interested in. There was a bundle of what looked like paracord, three sleeping bags, a few tarps, a tent, but most importantly, there was a small pile of books. Aaron spent a few minutes looking through the titles, finding a few he had heard of. He sat on the bed of the truck and opened one of the books he had never heard of. He wanted to not think about how he had just killed another survivor for just a little while. 

He didn’t know how long he was out there, but when he had reached the fourth chapter in the book, Rick had come out of the store dragging the two bodies. Henry was trotting after him. 

Henry hopped up into the truck and curled around Aaron. Aaron gave him a little pat on his head that had the dog leaning into the touch. 

Aaron and Rick shared no words. They met each other’s eyes for a moment, but Aaron looked away before anything came of it. Aaron went back to his book. Rick went back inside. 

Aaron made it through a few more chapters before the rumble of an engine pulled him from the pages. Aaron felt Henry stiffen, and he pulled his knife from his belt, cradling it to his chest as he flattened himself in the bed of the truck. There was a chance that this was Daryl and whoever he had brought back with him from his group, but he couldn’t be too safe, especially not after earlier. 

The engine stopped, and Aaron heard two people get out. He heard a pair of cautious footsteps approach the truck, and he gripped the knife a little harder. 

“Daryl,” It was a woman’s voice. Aaron relaxed, it was Daryl. As soon as he was going to move and reveal himself, there was suddenly a loaded crossbow in his face. 

“Holy shit!” Aaron exclaimed. Henry barked. 

“What the hell are ya doing out here?” Daryl spat. 

“Reading a fucking book!” Aaron shot back. “Some people enjoy literature.”

“I meant, what’s with the truck?” Daryl clarified.

“That is not what you said at all, and I’m not even sure how I was suppose to get that from the first question in the first place,” Aaron ranted. “Plus, have you been missing my point on extra syllables? If you had been clearer, then you wouldn’t have had to ask twice.”

“You talk an awful lot for someone goin’ on about syllables.”

“And the truck belonged to those guys over there,” Aaron pointed to where Rick had left the bodies. 

“Anybody get hurt?” the woman asked. Aaron finally turned to the woman and took her in. She had shorter brown hair, and was wearing a tanktop that looked like it could have used a good wash or three. 

“No, everyone’s fine,” Aaron answered. She asked direct questions. He liked that. “Well, Glenn is sleeping off some excess pain meds, because horse medicine is a little more concentrated but I mean that’s on me.” 

“Can I see him?” the woman asked, but Aaron had a feeling that there was something behind her voice that told him “no” was not an option. 

“Uh, yeah, follow me,” Aaron hopped down from the bed of the truck and Henry followed suit. On the way to the room, Aaron found out that the woman’s name was Maggie, and that she was Glenn’s wife. Aaron wanted to make a joke about how that was good because hospitals had family only policies in desperate times, but held his tongue, unsure how Maggie would take the joke. 

When they entered the room, Rick was sitting on the chair next to the table with his head in his hands. He looked up at them after a moment. Aaron looked away to not meet his eyes. 

Aaron dismissed himself and called Henry to follow. He wanted to find Fiona and Chip before night completely fell. He started by looking in the cage, beyond happy when he found Chip in there along with the fawn, who was already asleep. 

Aaron checked all of Fiona’s normal hiding places, and saw no sign of the cat. He was starting to get very worried, though he also hadn’t found any blood or anything to indicate that she was hurt. He continued methodically checking the rest of the shelves, the motions helping to keep his mind away from everything that had happened earlier. Aaron had not noticed he had started crying until Henry bumped his thigh, which was some of Henry’s old service dog training he had yet to forget. 

Once Aaron was aware he was crying, he sank slowly to the floor with his back to the shelf behind him, and he pulled his knees to his chest. Everything was just too much for him. Henry curled himself up around Aaron’s legs, his head resting on Aaron’s left hand. 

From everything with the horse, to killing someone, to losing his cat, it was all so much. He hadn’t really had a chance to process anything. 

Aaron had been alone for a long time. He had never killed another survivor. He had never had too. He was always content hiding, never letting himself be seen, and waiting the other people out. Sure, he had lost a few water jugs, and some people had grabbed the more well known medicines, but there had never been a time where they took anything that would end in Aaron being inhibited by the loss of any of those supplies. Aaron had been in tight spots for food before sometimes, but never anything horrible. A lot of higher end dog foods were basically like beef jerky, and he had been fine for the week he had only dog food to eat. 

Aaron had never been in a situation where it was in his interest to kill another person. There was always another way out. There was always a compromise. 

Henry’s head popped up, and Aaron looked to see that Daryl was standing at the end of the aisle. Aaron wiped his face off. 

“What?” He asked sharply. Daryl didn’t say anything but he moved and sat across from Aaron with his back against the other shelf. 

They sat in silence for a while. 

“Have you ever killed anyone before?” Aaron asked after he got the feeling Daryl was waiting for him to talk first. 

“Yeah,” Daryl answered after a moment. 

“How many?” Aaron was unsure if he was crossing a line. 

“Four.”

“Why?”

The pause after Aaron asked that question was longer than the others. He thought for a moment he had crossed the line. 

“Three were threatenin’ my group. The last was a… friend who got bit.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. 

“I’ve never killed anyone. Before, I mean. Obviously,” Aaron swallowed. “I never needed to. I get your group has had to do that, I get that Rick has done it before, but looking at the man’s body after Rick was done with it… I always let people come in and take what they wanted, I’ve never had the confrontation. I mean what was I going to do with all the supplies I have anyways?”

“Survive longer?” Daryl huffed. 

“I don’t know if you have ever been in this by yourself, but it gets boring,” Aaron chuckled dryly. “In my mind, the people that would come in here needed things more than I did. If they were at the last resort of a pet store, they must have been running on empty. If they came looking for the supplies they must have needed them. And I always want to help, it’s just who I have always been. I was just so scared of them being violent and killing me because I had all the supplies, it not even mattering that I am more than happy to give away any excess. That’s just who people are now. It’s like I’ve just been looking for a friend, but all my options either aren’t human or want to kill me.” 

It was clear that Daryl was about to say something, but he was cut off by a meow coming from behind his head. 

“Fi!” Aaron felt a wave of relief crash over him. He moved next to Daryl and slowly moved to pull Fi from the shelf. He knew she must have been spooked, and he didn’t want to scare her with any sudden movements. Once he had her, he cradled her to his chest. “Don’t pull that shit again!”

“Maggie and Rick were wonderin’ how much longer it’s gunna be until Glenn can move,” Daryl said, standing up. 

“Well, he can start moving on his own for short distances starting tomorrow if he feels up for it. But nothing major for a few weeks. If you guys have a knitting station at your prison he may want to pick that up for a while. He shouldn’t be going on any runs or even standing for long periods of time for like a month,” Aaron rambled.

Daryl nodded and made a noise of approval. He took another moment to look at Fiona, then walked away. 

Aaron made his way back to his pile of dog beds and sat down. All he wanted to do was fall asleep and pretend that today had never happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't express how sorry I am about how long it has been, but all I can say is that life kicked my ass, but I'm back now! I really do love this story and I have so many ideas for it, so I don't want to abandon it! Please let me know if you like it!

**Author's Note:**

> First attempt at a series with a OC! I’m excited but also terrified. Hope you like it!


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